In the Know
by Gandalf the Beige
Summary: The ten years going up to "Out of the Loop". Laugh! Cry! Plotz! Major Crossover with Men In Black here folks!
1. Prologue: The Meeting

In the Know

This is in response to a request to know about the ten-year span of Martins and Diana's lives wherein Mr. MacTavish was firing off lead balls and eating bread with a distinct maggoty crunch to it.

Herein lies the passing of those years, from plots to bubbling jealousy, from fidgeting to the beginning of a series of rendezvous, and finally to revelation, release, a semi normal love life to marriage and children.

Disclaimer: I do not own any of these, just writing about them. Back to the Future owns the Flux Capacitor, Amblin and Columbia Pictures own Men In Black, and Marathon owns Martin Mystery, not me… bit if I DID, I'd have little tinges of attraction between Martin and Diana, more tension between the two; and Marvin, oh, don't get me STARTED on Marvin!

Anyway I'll get on with the story now.

* * *

MIB Headquarters, Summer 2001 

Agent J hurried up the steps to Zeds office, worried about what this summons was about. "Agent J, please sit down, make yourself comfortable" said the portly senior agent.

"Look, Zed, if this is about Agent H, I can explain. He couldn't follow orders, he…" J was frantic. L hadn't worked out in the least and he was fast gaining a reputation for being even more neuralyzer-happy than his famous former partner.

"I know J, and you did the right thing neuralizing him, but that's not why you're here." J relaxed slightly as he finally sat down. "The reason I called you here is because of a very importantand very unusual mission… a _reconciliation_ almost." Agent Zed slid a pitch black manila Envelope with a white 'M' emblazoned on the front across the desk to J, who opened and began to read the contents.

"The Centre?" asked J with a fair amount of confusion.

"Yes, a 'Paranormal Research and Defence' instillation. It was set up when one of our agents, M, went government back in the late 70's. She said she 'wasn't satisfied with the lack of attention the organization gave non-extraterrestrial based strange events down on earth'." Zed stood up. "She's contacted me for the first time in over twenty years. She wants to rejoin the team, but said that she wanted one of our top agents to negotiate the conditions of the merger. And J, some of their technology may seem… well, strange, even for a Man in Black."

Zed looked at his watch. "Speaking of which, the door should be arriving in … 5… 4…"

"The door?" Jay's eyes widened at the prospect of a door _arriving_ ANYWHERE.

"2… 1… now." Zed looked up at the space directly behind J's chair, as did J himself. A gate in the fabric of space opened up, revealing a murky room with a large Baroque desk on the other side. It was then that Zed spoke one last time. "And just one last thing, J: They haven't got all their dimensions... _worked out_ yet. Watch yourself."

Zed motioned for J to go through, and always with a hint of caution, J got up and walked over. He touched the surface of the aperture and reacted as it rippled like the surface of water. Then he stepped through into a murky room, the door closing behind him, leaving him stranded in a strange locale with no sidearm or neuralyzer and totally at the mercy of this 'Agent M'. He REALLY needed to see something vaguely familiar.

This seemed to be his lucky day.

"Hello there."

J spun around… and found himself eye to nose with a little alien with a big head floating in some kind of hover chair and carrying some kind of fancy coffee. "Uh… hi. Who are you?" This little guy seemed friendly enough, but trusting any kind of floating chair after that incident with Jara was difficult.

"Billy. Billy the Martian to be exact: it helps distinguish me from Billy the Fae and Billy in Janitorial." Said the alien, introducint himself.

J reflected on this for a moment "Mars doesn't have any native life bigger than an amoeba, and aside from a difference in colour, you look pretty much like a Rethian to me."

"Well… we were sort of a colony." Said billy, fidgeting.

"An unregistered colony apparently." Jay was beginning to piece it togeher.

"Yeah, but we were also the largest… and we declared independence in the 12th century B.C. The Home world doesn't really like to talk about it. My grandfather fought on our side. He could tell you about it if you want."

Just as J was about to respond, a commanding female voice took that moment to interrupt. "Billy, the agent and I have to discuss terms. You may go." J, obviously hearing this, looked toward the desk and saw the sitting woman who had until this point hidden herself in shadow.

"But M.O.M.!" Protested Billy, though without much enthusiasm.

"You may leave the coffee but then you may go!" The woman prompted strongly.

"Okay, Okay." The Martian put the coffee on the table, opened another portal and winked out, muttering something about moodiness.

"So, you must be the agent that Zed said he'd send over. He must have pickeda n expert because he clearly wouldn't send a novice into such a potentially dangerous situation." She reached downward to a drawer, opened it, and retrieved a strange disc mounted on a wristband. She pressed a button and a synthesized feminine voice stated "U-Watch Activated."

"Do you know what this is, Agent… what did you say your letter was?" Asked M.

"I didn't, but it's J, and no, I do not know what that device is." He didn't really know whatwas going on, but the word 'covert' began featuring prominently in his imagination.

The former Agent M pressed another facet on the discs surface. 'Slime-scan selected' Said the synthesized voice of the device and suddenly projected what could only be called a sphere of energy, out of which condensed a device looking like a PDA with a test-tube attached to the side. "This little device is just a scanner, but do you what it is now?"

Agent J took the device, turned it around in his hand, and realized he was handling a piece of what K had always termed 'technological contraband'. "A matter digitizer." Jay said, somewhat in awe.

"Impressive, isn't it? It's quite useful for storing equipment on missions while keeping weight down." said M, quite proud of herself.

"It's also quite _illegal_. It was outlawed more than 20 years ago so as not to present any one side from having a tactical advantage and to keep assassins and spies from using it to conceal stuff. Didn't you hear about the Six Galaxies Agreement?" Oh yes, _covert_ really fit the mood.

"What a coincidence: that was about the same time we got a surplus of these handy devices. We can cut you in on every bit of technology you see here, and also offer you information on paranormal phenomena, and in return, you shall assist us on more perilous assignments. There is also one matter of which I shall speak: It will, of course, make or break this deal." For the second time today J gotsomething slid across to him (of course, this time he was standing). He took the folder, opened it… and was rewarded with the personnel files of one Diana Lombard and one Martin Mystery.

"What do you want us to do, get them together or something?" Jay asked, half jokingly.

M was very stoic and succinct in her answer "Actually, I do. I will not tell you why, aside than that I fell for them, but I will tell you that Lombard's mother (widow) married Mysteries father (details un), meaning that they are technically stepsiblings." She pressed a button on her desk and spoke into a speaker grille. "Billy?"

The Martian appeared through another portal. "Give Agent J the grand tour." As the Martian and agent left, M turned back towards the shadows. "Are you sure this is a good idea? What you proposed IS illegal, though i don't know why,so that information better be accurate."

A figure stepped out of the shadows, cloaked from shoulder to foot with nothing showing on his face except his eyes… his _green_ eyes.

"There is no reason to worry. Everything is happening as it did. I got told the story as a teen." The figure reached beneath his cloak, pressed a few buttons on some strange harness and disappeared in an intense flash of light that momentarily lit the offices eternal shadows.

Turning back, M.O.M. slumped and rested her head in one hand and sighed.

"I _really_ hate time travellers."

* * *

**Later**

Back at M.I.B. Headquarters, the technology, intelligence and demands ofThe Centre were being looked over by Zed. Suffice it to say, he wasn't happy. "Match making? I always took M for a bit of a romantic, but doesn't she know that we have more important things to do than play a bunch of Bene Gesserit dog-breeders to a couple of kids?"

Agent J, who had read the reports and had twinges of sympathy towards these kids, cut in. "Come on Zed, it isn't very high priority. We don't have to use any of their tech, we'd be officially separate... and just between us, if this information they gave us is right, those reports of Kreeshan magma smugglers in the pacific basin are just the tip of the paranormal iceberg. Maybe we can...one day make their parents marriage... _nonexistant_?"

Zed frowned. "Meddle with the memories of an entire town... we've done it before, but never for something so seemingly trivial." He pondered. "We'll wait on it, see how the situation develops. _Maybe_ we can change a few things if they actually like eachother... but we can't change someone's entire personality... never worked anyway." He stood up. "Put this on ice for now, Cold project status."They were nowwalking the gantry. "And J?"

"Yeah?" Asked the Agent that followed him.

Zed turned to face him. "Officially, this is just your private project. I'll grant you cleanup and alteration rights if need be, but don't expect any heavy equipment. You're on your own, slick." Right about then he got a blip on his communicater, answering it.

It was the duty-free shop with complaints about the worms.

* * *

Hoped you liked it, and if your wondering who the bloke was… guess. Let me just say that the 'breed the perfect agent' conspiracy theory is complete bunk. 


	2. LunchHour Blues

In the Know: Chap. 2

Disclaimer: I own NOTHING, NADA, ZIP, BUPKISS! Not the MIB, not the Centre, not the obvious riff on 'Back to the Future' (actually think it'll be a bit crossed over as well), NOTHING. Well, okay, so one cryptic time traveler with a McFly complex (though not without good reason).

Note: I've decided to make last chapter a prologue.

* * *

INTRO:

ESTABLISHING SHOT: Aerial view of the top of a retreating thunderhead, with flashes of lightning sporadically going off.

Somewhere, a man clears his throat: this is the NARRATOR.

NARRATOR: "It is sometimes said that if attraction between two people has existed for long enough, was mutual and especially if it was redirected for any reason at all for a substantial period, then anything could be the hair trigger that would bring it to the forefront of ones mind. My parents were big believers in this theory, though they always disagreed what worked better. My father held fast to his own experience with music, while my mother took the Freudian route and stuck fast with dreams being stronger."

ZOOM IN (slow counter-clockwise spin) through the clouds into a rain shower to reveal the campus of a large school.

NARRATOR: "The story you are about to read or hear, depending on visualization style, it that of my family: me, my parents, my sister, my sons… actually, everyone that has ever had my surname is connected to this tale in some way. We are… aberrations: we appeared in history very suddenly and have a habit of experiencing very strange things."

PAN DOWN to see though a window that has rain sheeting off of it. The interior looks like a classroom. Currently there are a number of very bored teenagers.

NARRATOR: "We, after all, have been called many things, but none so commonly or aptly as our name suggests."

"We… are simply mysteries."

* * *

**October 11th, 2001, Torrington Academy**

_In the 10th month of the first year of the Third Millennium ante Diem, the world was said to have changed. But in the small town of Sherbrooke, Quebec, the only things that were changing were the perceptions of two teenagers about the relationship between them… and the impact of these changes on those around them. _

Martin Mystery was bored. Music class was usually pretty boring, but today was probably going to be the biggest yawn fest of the entire year. Instead of actually doing anything on the instruments (which was a shame: he could play a pretty good 'Over the Hills and Far Away' on the recorders), the teacher had set up a series of "Music of the World" classes. In short, every day they had to listen to a few pieces of music from the same general part of the world and then write up a short paper that detailed the similarities, differences and general styles of music from that region.

The first region was going to be North-western Europe. The song they started with was a rather old compilation from the British Isles, more specifically from Ireland: 'The Star of the County Down'.

'Funny…' thought Martin. "Both of Diana's parents were Irish."

This set about a train of thought that had successfully been buried for all of four years. The course and subject matter of the song didn't help matters at all, bringing forth a veritable river of longings and wistful fantasies that until now had been repressed, sanitized and otherwise redirected practically into oblivion.

Later, during lunch, Martin was still humming the tune between bites of his tuna salad sandwich. He was staring vacantly toward the nerd table… an action made even more troubling when one considered exactly who qualified. Sitting there, among a horde of future scientists and bean counters, was the one girl that he had developed his rakish ways to expressly _avoid_. Long brown hair framed her face, bangs clipped to the side. Fair skin shone like polished opal. And her eyes… were like the sea, clear and glistening.

And like the sea, they were also green.

"Hey, Martin. Yoo hoo! Earth to Martin!" A voice broke him out of his trance, and he looked left to see the grinning face of one Alistair Benbrook, fellow Anglophone and much more accomplished womanizer.

"What?" Asked Martin, slightly annoyed.

"You've been humming that tune for the last 15 minutes and if I know the song, I can guess why." Alistair did know the song by coincidence, being in Martins music class. He looked toward the nerd table, twirling a finger in the general direction. "Now… which 'sweet colleen' with 'nut brown hair' might you be fancying?"

Martin groaned and hung his head, ready for whatever appalled comment his companion was ready to make at his taste in girls. What he got instead was a soft chuckle. "I can see the attraction. I'd go after Ms. Lombard myself, but I'm not into nerds. But what was all that flirting with Jenny then, not to mention trying so hard to copy me?"

Martin raised his head in slight anger at his companion not really seeing the obvious and pulled Alistair's head in close. "What do you think: she's my STEPSISTER!" Martin whispered harshly. He glanced again at Diana and then added in a slightly softer voice "Besides, what if she doesn't feel the same way?"

Mr. Benbrook clucked his tongue and shook his head amusedly "Walk with me, talk with me." As they walked along the cloisters outside the cafeteria, Alistair explained the plan as water dripped from the roof rim. "You just have to tell her how you feel and take it from there. If she doesn't take it well, expect nothing worse than a slap in the face. If she _does_ take it well and reciprocate… well, that gets a little complicated, especially the way you two are related." Alistair rolled his paper bag into a ball and threw it into a trashcan. " But the way I see it, if you never ask, you'll never know."

At his point in time, they were no more than four good-sized paces from where Diana was milling with some other smart people, discussing some big project or something. "What's that supposed to mean?" asked Martin, getting frustrated at his companions habit of speaking in riddles, which, for Martin, meant anything more than two syllable words (the guy was getting worse than Java, and even the Caveman was coming along nicely in the grammar department).

"This." With that, Benbrook turned to face Martin… and promptly shoved him in the direction of the crowd that included Diana. He tumbled into the group, creating a sort of domino effect that eventually reached Ms. Lombard. By that time, however, Martin had regained his balance and, in a feat of gymnastic prowess the kind of which not seen on the premises for nearly forty years, slid one leg flat to lower himself in a manner reminiscent of a Russian dance and caught the falling teen in both arms.

When he rose again, he was holding Diana cradle-style in those aforementioned arms. It was not long before they were both red faced and Diana was yelling at her stepbrother to put her down. He did so. "Well _excuse _me for saving you! If it wasn't for me you'd probably be on crutches for a week."

"Crutches? A WEEK? Haven't you ever heard of girls being light on their feet?" Diana sounded like her voice was getting warmed up for another shouting match.

"Well, with your sugar habit, one can never tell." Martin didn't quite know why he did things like this to set Diana off. He suspected it was a defence mechanism against various "unwholesome" feelings that crept up the back of his throat when they were less than four feet apart. That and it was sometimes a form of perverse entertainment.

"WHAT? Of all the idiotic, stupid, thick headed things I could imagine you saying, THIS is probably the worst!" Indeed the shouting match came, but Martin did not feel the inclination to devolve into another pointless argument.

"Look, Diana… I'm…" But Martin did not get to finish his apology, for at that moment a new voice interrupted the conversation.

"Hey Diana." This was Marvin, surname unknown. It must be taken to account that if not for a few small differences in physical appearance and a major personality shift, the two young men would be very difficult to tell apart. Perhaps this would go toward an explanation of Diana's crush on him.

"Oh, hello Marvin." Said Diana, in a voice that she reserved for those males who she was consciously trying to attract the attention of as she turned away from Martin to face the new arrival. For some reason, although considered marginally cute and very flirty by the world at large, Martin usually found it plain annoying… mostly because she never used it on _him_. "How go things about Friday?"

_Oh, yes._ Thought Martin. _The infamous date with her dreamboat she's talked about non-stop for two weeks straight. _However, perhaps this wasn't the kind of news Diana was expecting. "Diana… well, about Friday…it's…" A low growling emanated from behind Diana, sending a frightened look to Marvin's face. "Well, I won't be able to go, very busy after all. Bye!" Rushed the boy before running away through the trees on the soggy lawn.

Diana, eyes wide in surprise, turned toward the apparent source of the sound: Martin. "Why did you do that?"

"Do what? He was obviously going to break off the date; something must have spooked him."

"I agree, something sure spooked him: _you_!" She pointed a finger straight at his chest and resumed ranting. "This is just so typical: every time I get a chance at romance, _YOU_ do something to ruin it for me. If I didn't know any better I'd swear that you…" she began muttering at this point "_No… lets not think like that_." She faced Martin again, but as she was preparing to continue, she felt that something was missing. Namely, the floor they were standing on.

The teens fell, not through fire and water like some others (though that did occasionally happen), but down into a murky void, eventually hitting a dark marble floor with no more force than if they had fallen only a few feet. A few metres away landed Java in full cafeteria kitchen safety gear.

"Well Martin, what were you saying about crutches… Martin?" It was that point in time that Diana noticed that the floor wasn't as hard as it was supposed to be. This was because Martin had broken her fall and certain… _things_ were muffling his voice. She scrambled to her feet, blushing like a peeled beet as Martin got up into something approaching standing. His face was a blank slate with deer-in-headlights eyes and a scrunched up mouth that screamed "gormless".

"Am I, perhaps, interrupting something?" Came a voice from the semi-gloom, being of course the Omni-present "M.O.M." sitting behind her desk. She appeared innocent enough… but still.

"_Interrupting_?" Diana was quite literally shocked, embarrassed and appalled… mostly at herself. But with Java's arrival things seemed to blow over. Billy handed out the mission planners, where Diana noticed one thing right away. "Hawaii?" Her attention was grabbed because it was a known and confirmable fact that the islands were considered some of the most romantic places on the planet. Herself… in a romantic setting… with _Martin_? She didn't know what was going to crack first: her sanity or her carefully constructed psychological barriers.

Martin, on the other hand, had zeroed in on something of much more interest to him. "Alien Lava Men! This is going to be so cool! When do we leave?" His was the boyish glee of someone whose mother had just set him lose in a confectioners shop with ten dollars and no regard for potential property damage.

"Saturday Morning, so I suggest you gets acquainted with whatever you need to know before then, because we need Java elsewhere." There was really no need to prepare them to any great degree for this mission.

After all, they wouldn't be the ones doing the actual fieldwork.

* * *

Now: The Lyrics

The Star of the County Down

Near to Banbridge Town, in the County Down  
One morning in July,  
Down a boreen green came a sweet colleen,  
And she smiled as she passed me by;  
Oh, she looked so neat from her two white feet  
To the sheen of her nut-brown hair,  
Sure the coaxing elf, I'd to shake myself  
To make sure I was standing there

_Chorus:_  
Oh, from Bantry Bay up to Derry Quay,  
And from Galway to Dublin town,  
No maid I've seen like the brown colleen  
That I met in the County Down.

As she onward sped I shook my head  
And I gazed with a feeling quare,  
And I said, says I, to a passer-by,  
"Who's the maid with the nut-brown hair?"  
Oh, he smiled at me, and with pride says he,  
"That's the gem of Ireland's crown,  
She's young Rosie McCann from the banks of the Bann,  
She's the Star of the County Down."

_Chorus:_  
Oh, from Bantry Bay up to Derry Quay,  
And from Galway to Dublin town,  
No maid I've seen like the brown colleen  
That I met in the County Down.

I've traveled a bit, but never was hit  
Since my roving career began;  
But fair and square I surrendered there  
To the charms of young Rose McCann.  
I'd a heart to let and no tenant yet  
Did I meet with in shawl or gown,  
But in she went and I asked no rent  
From the Star of the County Down.

_Chorus:_  
Oh, from Bantry Bay up to Derry Quay,  
And from Galway to Dublin town,  
No maid I've seen like the brown colleen  
That I met in the County Down.

At the crossroads fair I'll be surely there  
And I'll dress in my Sunday clothes  
With my shoes shined bright and my hat just right  
To win the heart of the nut-brown Rose.  
No pipe I'll smoke, no horse I'll yoke  
Though with rust my plough turns brown,  
Till a smiling bride by my own fireside  
Sits the Star of the County Down.


End file.
